Friday June 15, 2018, 8:54 am
Roger Waters was among the first musicians to boycott Israel.

The British Musician and activist Roger Waters wore a Palestinian Keffiyeh when presenting the men’s category Coupe des Mousquetaires of the Tennis French Open.

Waters presented the trophy along with actress Lea Seydoux prior to a match between the Austrian Dominic Thiem and the Spanish Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on Sunday.

The former Pink Floyd member joined the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, BDS, movement in 2011 but he had supported it for years before when Palestinian advocates of the boycott convinced him to visit the separation wall to reconsider his planned 2006 concert in Tel Aviv.

His act of solidarity at the popular international sport event came just days after he took some time ahead of a concert in Berlin to defend the BDS movement and highlight the plight of Palestinians in Gaza after the recent extrajudicial killings perpetrated by Israeli forces on the border between Gaza and Israel during this year’s Great March for Return protests, in which more than 100 demonstrators were killed by sniper fire.

Endorsing the movement, Waters penned an opinion piece published by The Guardian in 2011 saying:

“In 1980, a song I wrote, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, was banned by the government of South Africa because it was being used by black South African children to advocate their right to equal education.”

He added:

“Twenty-five years later, in 2005, Palestinian children participating in a West Bank festival used the song to protest against Israel’s wall around the West Bank. They sang: ‘We don’t need no occupation! We don’t need no racist wall!’.”

Now, Waters is one of the most high-profile members of the BDS movement.

Israel’s forcible transfer of thousands of Palestinians has been denounced as a war crime by over 300 elected officials, legal scholars, academics, artists, faith leaders and activists from around the world.

The universal show of solidarity to the Palestinians was published in an open letter which voiced strong opposition to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians living in farming-shepherding communities in the occupied West Bank.

Signatories include 90 members of parliament, many of whom are from the EU and UK parliaments. Other notable signatories include ten Israel Prize laureates, film director Ken Loach, artists Ai Weiwei, author Alice Walker, academic Noam Chomsky and several musicians. Dozens of Rabbis have also signed the letter denouncing Israel for what many would describe ethnic cleansing.
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Forcible transfer – by direct physical force or by creating a coercive environment that makes residents leave their homes – is a war crime

the letter states.

Mentioning, in particular, residents facing expulsion from three areas; the Jordan Valley, the South Hebron Hills and East Jerusalem, the letter says that Israel “aims to establish facts on the ground that would achieve exclusive de-facto Israeli control in those areas and eventually facilitate formal annexation”.

“Israel’s plans,” the letter points out, “range from freezing Palestinian development, through minimising Palestinian foothold in major parts of the West Bank, to the destruction and transfer of entire communities.” The plans, they add, are being implemented through “coercive measures” which are listed as: not being allowed to build new private or public buildings; denied access to water grids or to pave access roads; demolitions; threats and confiscation of essential equipment.

After denouncing Israel for committing “war crimes” the letter says that “all people responsible for it – including Israeli prime minister and the minister of defence – bear personal responsibility.”

They also accuse Israel’s high court of “rubber stamping” the criminal policies of the Israeli government. “All it does is also implicate Israeli High Court justices in what is nothing short of a war crime, no matter how much legal formalism is enlisted in an effort to excuse the inexcusable,” the letter concludes.

Open letter which voiced strong opposition to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians living in farming-shepherding communities in the occupied West Bank [File photo]

Nine House Democrats wrote a letter on Wednesday, to United States president Donald Trump, requesting him to update the current status of U.S. funding towards Palestinian Authority (PA).

In spite being the largest single donor to UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in January of 2018, the United States withheld $65 million from the organization, as they were “examining” the use of money, responding to the refusal of Mahmoud Abbas’ meeting with US officials following the controversy regarding Jerusalem being the official capital of Israel.

On 23 March, 2018, the United States passed the “Taylor Force Act” which fully cuts off funding for the PA unless it ceases to pay stipends to families of Palestinian prisoners, and revokes laws authorizing this compensation.

The USAID office in the West Bank and Gaza, an American international agency, has not received a budget for the following year, thus placing a halt to its projects, according to the PNN.

According to the letter, the impact of the funding freeze could lead to catastrophic consequences: “140,000 people will cease to receive emergency food and non-food assistance, 42,000 patients will not receive essential health services, 50,000 youths will lack access to life skills development, and 12,250 people will lose paid entrepreneurship opportunities.

“We believe these crucial humanitarian funds must be restored in order to save innocent lives.”

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